VAR will be used at World Cup

● Video assistant referees (VARs) will be used at the World Cup for the first time when the finals get under way in Russia in June.

The use of the VAR system was approved earlier this month by the rule-making body IFAB, despite controversy in some of the competitions where it has been trialled over the time taken to make decisions and lack of information for spectators.

“We are going to have our first World Cup with video-assisted refereeing,” Fifa president Gianni Infantino told reporters after a meeting of the Fifa Council.

The system that allows off-pitch referees to re-examine a decision or an incident referred to them by the match official has been used in Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A this season and trialled in some English FA and League Cup games. — Reuters